{"id":201433,"date":"2025-12-25T15:49:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T15:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/201433\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T15:49:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T15:49:07","slug":"theyre-scared-of-us-now-how-co-investment-in-a-tropical-forest-saw-off-loggers-panama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/201433\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018They\u2019re scared of us now\u2019: how co-investment in a tropical forest saw off loggers | Panama"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are no roads through the Dari\u00e9n Gap. This vast impenetrable forest spans the width of the land bridge between South and Central America, but there is almost no way through it: hundreds have lost their lives trying to cross it on foot.<\/p>\n

Its size and hostility have shielded it from development for millennia, protecting hundreds of species \u2013 from harpy eagles and giant anteaters to jaguars and red-crested tamarins \u2013 in one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. But it has also made it incredibly difficult to protect. Looking after 575,000 hectares (1,420,856 acres) of beach, mangrove and rainforest with just 20 rangers often felt impossible, says Segundo Sugasti, the director of Dari\u00e9n national park. Like tropical forests all over the world, it has been steadily shrinking, with at least 15% lost to logging, mining and cattle ranching in two decades.<\/p>\n

But in the past three years, Panama has mounted a surprising fightback that could offer hope<\/a> to the rest of the world\u2019s forests. In 2022, the government took a hard line on deforestation<\/a> and modernised its park ranger force, partnered with the NGO Global Conservation and deforestation in the park began to fall. That fall accelerated when President Jos\u00e9 Ra\u00fal Mulino took office in July 2024.<\/p>\n

Mulino purged the environment ministry of corrupt officials and introduced a blanket moratorium on logging to stop companies exploiting indigenous logging permits. The park ranger force was expanded with 30 new recruits and 11 forestry officers, swelling numbers from six to more than 40. The number of patrols has grown from almost zero in 2022 to 55 in 2024, with more than 150 expected in 2025.<\/p>\n

Panama\u2019s president, Jos\u00e9 Ra\u00fal Mulino, has taken a hard line on deforestation. Photograph: Enea Lebrun\/Reuters<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t look at us the same way any more,\u201d Sugasti says. \u201cNow the kids are asking when they can sign up to become a ranger!\u201d<\/p>\n

In an era when cash-strapped governments are slashing environmental budgets, Jeff Morgan, the director of Global Conservation<\/a>, which partners with the park, says: \u201cIt\u2019s a miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in this industry for more than 10 years and worked in 22 countries. I\u2019ve never seen anything like this,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Global Conservation supported the park with new trucks, boats, food and fuel, giving the rangers the tools and confidence to reach areas they once avoided. \u201cNow if we have to go by boat, by truck or by foot, we will go there \u2013 no matter how far it is. As long as we feel safe and supported, we will do it,\u201d says Esquivel Ramires, a park ranger.<\/p>\n

The other significant shift has been in the use of technology. With little phone signal in the rainforest, rangers used to spend much of their time incommunicado, chasing ghosts. By the time alerts of intruders clearing trees reached them, they had already vanished. Rangers have now been given access to cameras, satellites and cloud systems, starting with Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink, and are in constant communication with one another, allowing for a quicker, more coordinated response.<\/p>\n

Sugasti says: \u201cBefore, sending a park ranger to remote zones meant risking their life. Now I can send them to the most far-flung corners quickly, knowing they are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trail cameras automatically detect movements of logging crews and all officers use EarthRanger \u2013 a cloud-based park management system that allows them to share photos, GPS locations and incident reports immediately. If a fire is reported inside the park, they can immediately pinpoint the location of the blaze.<\/p>\n

The platform also links to external sources such as Global Forest Watch\u2019s real-time fire-detection satellites. No fires took hold in the park in 2024 or 2025, Segasti says.In the past, one or two rangers might have arrived late and alone, now teams of five can be rapidly dispatched together. As a result, the team\u2019s presence is more visible and feared and loggers and miners are retreating.<\/p>\n

\u201cIllegal mining, the poaching of animals and logging is happening a lot less. They are scared of us now,\u201d says ranger Juan Sebuygera, wearing his green standard-issue, wide-brimmed hat.<\/p>\n

Most remarkable is that the tech is neither costly nor complex, says Kherson Rodr\u00edguez, who manages the Dari\u00e9n project for Global Conservation. EarthRanger and Global Forest Watch\u2019s real-time fire alerts are free: all rangers need is access to Starlink and smartphones.<\/p>\n

Wider financial support also meant five rusting boat engines that had not been serviced for a decade could be repaired.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore, [rangers] were not able to do their jobs because they lacked basics like oil, fuel or replacement parts. It is [about] being efficient and giving them what they need, when they need it,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez says.<\/p>\n

The results have been staggering. Forest loss inside the national park plummeted by 88% between 2022 and 2025, reaching its lowest level in 20 years, according to Global Forest Watch. So far this year, logging in the park has fallen to nearly zero, the park says.<\/p>\n

The reclaiming of Dari\u00e9n national park should help protect one of the region\u2019s largest carbon sinks and the Indigenous groups and many animal species that live there. It also comes as tropical forests across Central America are collapsing.<\/p>\n

\u201cNicaragua is gone. Mexico, Guatemala \u2013 everything is going now. If you look from Google Earth we are down to these little green patches. It\u2019s the last 10% of what was there 100 years ago. So if we don\u2019t get it right real soon \u2026\u201d Morgan says, trailing off, preferring not to elaborate on the implications of losing the greatest intact rainforest north of the Amazon.<\/p>\n

Tropical forest loss doubled in 2024,<\/a> reaching the highest level recorded in two decades.<\/p>\n

Bringing park rangers who still work with pens and notepads into the age of cameras, tablets and cloud computing is a pragmatic way to turn the tide when climate diplomacy at summits like Cop is failing, Morgan says.<\/p>\n

He says Panama\u2019s turnaround also shows how co-investment \u2013 partnering with governments that also invest in conservation \u2013 makes rangers more accountable and brings better results. And it is also quicker.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes three years to get a USAID or a Defra grant. You do a ton of paperwork, and by the time it\u2019s ready, the government has changed, the president\u2019s now terrible, the park directors are terrible. Everything can be destroyed in that time,\u201d Morgan says.<\/p>\n

Instead of waiting on climate finance, there should be a push for direct co-investment with governments, Morgan says. \u201cThis is just one park. Imagine the difference we could make with just $200,000 a year, times 1,000 parks,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are no roads through the Dari\u00e9n Gap. This vast impenetrable forest spans the width of the land…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147],"class_list":{"0":"post-201433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}